Gaaaah. Gomen ne for the lack of update yesterday! –bows head- It's amazing…I was about to and...THINGS happened. So very many things. Like my dog sat on my foot. That's a big deal when your dog is a thirty-something pound Beagle who won't move no matter what X_X

Blink: BARK BARK BARK! –evil growl-

Anyway...onto the slightly late chapter. Eh, heh, heh. ^.^;; I need...pie.

~Chapter Twenty-Two~

"Lindsey, I'm sorry...I..I....Lindsey, stop kidding around. Open your eyes...please."

"Any sign of her coming through?"

"No. . .not yet. I can't believe this. What if she...never wakes up? I'll never forgive myself for yelling at her like that."

"Don't blame yourself. You didn't cause this."

"It's my fault she ran off with Joker."

"No it's not, you idiot. It's just one of those things that...happened. I have to go back to her house---her parents want me to see to Kitsune and Joker. Are you staying here again?"

"I have to."

"Fine, fine...I'll see you tomorrow morning, then. Her parents are out in the waiting room, as usual, if you need anything."

"I just need her... to wake up. Lindsey, I'm sorry...please open your eyes..."

Lindsey Tamer...he's been calling for you. Open your eyes.

~*~

White.

White was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. Or maybe I should be seeing gray, since it looked like it was nighttime.

Night? Wasn't it just daytime a minute ago?

What happened...why was I awake?

As I struggled to remember, a sharp, shooting pain made it's way to my head. I gasped, looking around slowly, as not to hurt my head more.

I was hooked up to what looked like an IV. A few machines were beeping, and there were wire coming out of me everywhere. The bed I was on had the top half raised, and the mattress was ridiculously uncomfortable.

There was only one explanation for all of this: I was in a hospital.

But...why?

I sighed as I tried to remember...but the only thing coming to my mind was galloping bareback on Joker...did I fall off or something?

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud snort. I looked to my side and saw Steve sleeping in a chair right next to my bed. Or rather...snoring while sitting up in a very uncomfortable-looking chair.

I felt something twitch. I looked down at my hand. Somehow, in my surveying of my hospital room, I had missed the part where Steve was clutching my hand in his. I tried to roll my eyes, but it hurt.

Steve, only Steve would sit by my side in a hospital in a chair with a comfort about equal to sitting Joker's trot.

"You're such a good friend," I whispered.

Steve snored loudly again, this time so loud that he woke himself up. He looked kind of startled, then looked at me before slowly closing his eyes again.

I opened my mouth to say something, but Steve's eyes suddenly flew open and he gripped my hand tighter, and he gasped.

"Lindsey?!"

"In the flesh," I mumbled. It hurt everything to talk. Why was I in so much pain?

"Lindsey..." he whispered, understanding. Of course. Like a best friend should. "You're awake! I can't believe it!"

"Huh?"

Steve paused, wondering if he should go on. But I guess since I didn't close my eyes and fall back asleep or something, Steve took that as a hint to tell me what the heck was going on.

"Lindsey..." he said again, this time more softly. "You...you've been in a coma for the past two weeks." He put his other hand on mine.

"Wha...what?" I swallowed. "A coma?"

"Yeah...it was...well..." Steve paused. "Maybe I should call your parents. They can tell you." He dropped my hand and started to get up.

"No," I said. "You tell me."

He frowned, and then sighed deeply. He made himself as comfortable as he possibly could on that stupid chair, and put his hand in mine again.

"Well, your mom was mad since you had just run off with Joker...of course, she didn't know until a few hours later when she saw both of you guys were missing. She was confused since Ivy and I didn't show back up at your house even later, and she thought we were out somewhere...and she was so worried when we told her you were...missing." Steve sniffled and looked down.

"I was---" I started, but Steve broke in first:

"So then we all decide to search for you, but we had no idea where to even start. We all made a bunch of plans, and decided to do some weird complicated thing your dad suggested, but then Kitsune suddenly teleported, and he led us right to you.

"You were leaning against a tree and your...your head was bleeding...and...and..."

I looked at Steve and saw his shoulders were shaking. Was he...crying?

"Steve..." I started.

He looked up at me, blinking back a few tears. "I really thought we lost you," he whispered. "It was terrible. I kept thinking about the last thing I said to you, and I really didn't want that to be the last thing ever..."

I couldn't say anything. Here was Steve, Mr. Macho Steve, practically in tears about what he had said to me. About whatever had happened.

"Steve, it's okay," I whispered. "I'm awake now and I guess I'm okay...what about Joker and Kitsune? Are they...?"

"They're fine." Steve rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "They're both at your house. Ivy's watching them." He paused again.

"What?" I asked crabbily.

"Joker...well...he looked kind of beat up. Oh, what am I saying?!" he suddenly cried, squeezing my hand so tight, it was added to my list of things that hurt. He looked up at the ceiling, smacking his head every once in awhile.

"Joker was a mess!" Steve continued. "He could barely walk! And Kitsune wasn't any better, his coat was all matted with dirt and blood and who knows what, and you, well you were just..." Steve stopped and finally looked at me, a little calmer since he had let out his rage, I guess. "Lindsey..." he said in a lower voice. Man, what was it with him saying my name every minute? "What happened out there? The last thing that happened was that...well..." Steve looked down again. "When we had that fight, and then something happened..."

I closed my eyes. Steve was right. Something had happened out there, the only problem was, I had no idea what.

"I have no idea," I whispered. "I can't remember anything. Just...just..."

I suddenly felt a lurch in my chest, and hot pain. My head suddenly flooded with memories. I put my free hand over my heart, and felt the key...

And I remembered.

"Wait..." I said, taking a deep breath. "I...I...I do know what happened..."

He looked up at me. "What?" he asked softly.

"It---" I started, but the door suddenly creaked open. In the dim light I could make out a person dressed in white with curly blonde hair.

"You called?" she asked, looking at Steve.

"Yeah..." he trailed off, looking at me, the lady, then back at me. "This is Lindsey Tamer. She was in a coma...?"

"Oh!" the woman suddenly said. "Yes, sorry. I remember now." She looked at me. "I'll go get your parents and your doctor." And with that, she left the room.

"Uh...who was that?" I raised an eyebrow.

"A nurse, one of the many you've had," Steve sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Why did you call her? I mean...I'm awake, can't I just go?"

Steve shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I think you'll need some kind of care. I mean, geez, you were just, oh, I don't know, ASLEEP, with everyone thinking you were going to DIE for the past two WEEKS!" Steve was raising his voice again.

"Steve!" I hissed. "Calm down! I'm awake now, aren't I? I mean, come on, you're practically my brother but you don't need to be THAT protective of me!"

He let go of my hand and laughed a little. "I'm practically your brother?"

"Shut up." I stuck my tongue out at him. "Hey, apparently I just woke up from a coma, you can't---"

"Lindsey Tamer?" a deep voice suddenly asked. Steve spun out of the way and I saw a man with stringy black hair wearing a white coat---my doctor, I presumed.

"Yeah," I muttered.

Someone shoved the doctor dude aside and raced towards me. Mom. Of course.

"Lindsey!" Mom sobbed as she attempted to hug me while not yanking any of the wires attached to me. "Omigod, you're awake!"

"Mom...ow...head pain..."

"Oh honey...I'm sorry..." Mom let go and wiped her eyes. "I just can't believe you're awake. Mr. Kamazini---your doctor---called us over, oh we've all been sleeping in the waiting rooms waiting for you to wake up...oh Lindse-e-e-e-e-ey!" Mom sobbed.

"We?" was all I asked.

Dad suddenly appeared, putting one arm around Mom's shoulder and putting his other on mine. " 'We', as in me, Diana, and Steve."

"Steve?" I whispered. He was now standing, his hands jammed in his pockets, trying to look like he had something better to do.

"Well, yeah, duh," he said. "I'm practically your brother, right?" He winked.

I managed a smile. "Yeah."

"So," Dr. Kamazini interrupted. "As you probably know, you've been in a coma for the past two weeks. Luckily you've awakened, so now we have to perform some other tests and make sure nothing's really wrong with your head, and then you may go home."

Home, I thought. Where Joker and Kitsune were.

Dr. Kamazini then told me I could only sleep for an hour at a time for the next few days to monitor how I was doing. He mentioned it was nothing short of a miracle I was completely fine, and left the room scratching his head wondering how I could have survived with nothing more than a few head injuries and bruises.

"Sure," I croaked. The sudden silence was quickly broken by Mom's yelling and me suddenly asking questions. She was asking me how I had gotten myself into this, while I was trying to ask where Ivy was.

Steve heard me. "She's staying your house, like me," he said. "Only because she's taking care of the Pokemon. She's been coming here during the day to see you."

"But…how? I've been here for two weeks...right? Didn't she go back to Johto?"

"We got permission for time off," Steve explained. "They let us stay here, considering the circumstances..."

I smiled, but I still felt...incomplete.

Darrell.

Where was he?

~*~*~

GAHHH! ATE FUDGESICLE TOO FAST…! FREEZE...HEADACHE! X_X

-cough- While I'm being resurrected...reviewer replies ~.^:

magicgalkairi~ Well at least you're not the only one that doesn't like Darrell ^.^; Steve sure has a way of charming da ladies...

Lady Silver Dragon I~ -phew- What a review. O_O...first of all, I didn't know that backspace thing about the periods. So thanks ^^; And...SOMEONE LIKES DARRELL! –falls over- Heh, heh. And let me just say: Yeah, you're right about them being the same. I cringe when I read over April and Diana X_X But anyway...there is always a reason to my madness. SO many people were thinking Lindsey should be a guy (obviously not named Lindsey...^.~), but I've had something planned for awhile. My madness has reason! Bwahaha...

And about the whole they-all-fall-in-love-thing, I live in a shojo manga world. _ Heh, just kidding...I can safely say myself I've never really fallen in love before, so it's kind of nice to write about it. That's always why April/Diana/Lindsey have all this 'moral support'; it's because I don't get much of that in real life. I guess it could make someone puke from all the hap-hap-happiness, but my fics are a little escape from the real world. And although Lindsey is a character all her own, I don't really want to put her through stuff I'm going through at the moment...it'll just make it seem more real, and I want to escape from that! But just you wait...STUFF is going to...eventually happen. ~.^

WHA...I can't draw hands. Hair is easy! –scribble scribble- See...HAIR! ^_^;

So I will be looking forward to more point on my...determined-ness...if that really IS a word. ~.~

Zero_Chan~ AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! –runs away in fear- That Espeon thing is FUNKY, man! O_O It was...STARING at me. With...EYES OF DOOM. Dooooooooom.

I've never dealt with a lazy horse before...crazy and insane, but never lazy. Hrmm...

Melani~ Steve? A weirdo? Tsssh. ~_^ Ha...such a surprise you call Dragonair evil. Hrmm hrmm indeed...sorry I didn't update yesterday. Heh...you should know by now I get sidetracked ^_^;;

I think that's everyone...now I must go and do...stuff. Yeehaw!